


i look pretty

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Cosplay, Gen, Not Tony Stark Friendly, Original Character(s), Social Justice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 20:24:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15127172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Birthday For Daisy Johnson Version 3.0DAY 1 · June 30 Daisy + canon and headcanonsDaisy poses as a cosplayer outside of Stark Tower to get information on SHIELD, and thinks about a certain Russian hacker.





	i look pretty

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the events of Iron Man 2.

Alex had warned her about this.

She thinks a lot about Alex lately. Really never stopped since they first met online.

Alex had said that the life she was choosing was going to be lonely, and governments can make people disappear.

She/he was obviously speaking from experience, but that’s what drew them closer at first.

She knows that SHIELD made her past disappear, and she wants an answer to that.

She knows it's connected to other things going on in the world, she can feel it in her bones even if she can't quite explain it.

It’s what pushed Miles away from her (okay she did the pushing), longing for a normal life, instead of wanting impossible answers.

He said they already knew the truth, that SHIELD was responsible, and it shouldn't mean they had to end up in some dark prison cell to confirm it.

She remembers the exact moment Alex popped up on her radar when she/he mentioned one word in the forums: Leviathan.

People that had a lot to say about everything suddenly didn't have much to say.

Of course, it just made her even more curious. No one else seemed to know anything about it. Or didn't want to talk about it.

The same way she was used to people ranting about SHIELD, offering up wild conspiracy theories but not getting facts.

And knew if she started talking about specifics, facts, that suddenly people didn't seem to know very much at all.

Maybe it was fear, or that they weren't able to get behind the firewall to get any real intelligence?

It was different for Alex, and she/he had figured out how to get behind that wall and was willing to show her a few tricks to do the same.

Right now, Alex would probably laugh at her cheap cosplay costume, that she's pulling together in her van.

But agree that her plan might actually work? Tell her she looks cute?

Yes, she's sure Alex would find all of this hilarious, because this is _so_ not her thing and she's playing a part to play another part, that's playing a part to convince herself that she can actually do this.

A thing that they had agreed on was that seeming inconspicuous around people with power required you to be anything but yourself.

That they’re so used to familiar attention that it can make you invisible if they think you adore them.

Tony Stark, billionaire weapons dealer turned sudden philanthropist, is being watched by SHIELD.

She's seen the familiar suits scoping out Stark Tower. The same guys on PROJECT: PEGASUS for sure.

Even though the media wasn't looking for them, she was.

And if she wants to get to know more about SHIELD, Stark is an avenue and, bonus, he totally relies on technology.

Technology that can be hacked.

There is no way that the Iron Man suit runs on manpower alone. All the patent records she’s found from Stark Industries seem to confirm this, and the media articles that are little more than the same kind of flattery his father always had.

It makes her wonder if Tony actually invented anything himself, or if he just has an R&D department that is improving upon his inheritance.

SHIELD and the Starks have been in bed since forever, even if Tony isn't. That means he has information on SHIELD, maybe even at the highest levels, and it's possible he might not want to cooperate with them.

So, yes, dressing in a Sexy Iron Man costume isn't a high point of her life, but she's sure that SHIELD agents have done as much to get the kind of information she wants.

She'll just seem like one of many cosplayers outside of Stark Tower admiring their hero because sometimes Stark lets them inside the Tower to drown out the media.

All she wants is to know where she came from.

Shutting the door to her van, she leaves the alley and starts to walk towards the target, and catches her reflection in a shop window.

Hey, her legs do look kind of great in this skirt, though.

  
###

  
"Tony! Tony! We love you!"

She looks longingly at the other protestor side, yelling things like, "Energy for the people!" and running down Alex's corrupt oligarch checklist.

Then she sighs and joins the other fans in bouncing up and down and screaming outside of the Tower, while they hold up signs with hearts on them.

"Got some news for you guys, Stark is _not_ marriage material," she whispers under her breath.

God, if she was a superhero, all of this would make her _so_ uncomfortable. 

And her costume isn't that great, because she wore her boots, and the boot sleeves she bought wouldn't fit over them and she doesn't even own a pair of heels.

Some of these guys went all out with their costumes. 

The media is there too, watching them, taking pictures, and she’s trying to make sure she doesn’t seem too weird trying to totally avoid being photographed.

She was wrong. SHIELD would _never_ go to these lengths.

They don’t have to. She can see a couple of their suits milling around with the reporters.

Alex would tell her to relax. Play it cool. “They don’t see you until you’re on their radar. And then, you're always on their radar.”

She’s avoided the radar. All of her public work is on podcasts, and she moves around so they can’t track her.

But hacking has only gotten her so far and now she's trying to get up close and personal to their targets and operations.

“He’s the next step in human evolution," the guy next to her says from behind his mask like he's waiting for her to agree with him.

She doesn't have the chance to ask him if he knows how evolution actually works before the crowd starts chanting, "Iron Man" while they're waiting for Tony to just step a foot out of his fancy car.

Tony doesn't get out of his car.

This is why she's here, though. Tony is avoiding the press, because of what happened with Hammer. Hammer was sloppy and working with a Russian.

The cracks are showing, and all she needs is a crack to get inside.

Tony gets out of his car and heads towards his fans, but when a reporter yells out, “You took on Justin Hammer and the Russians. How does it feel to be an American hero?”

She watches Tony pause, and turn back to the reporter, beaming.

“It feels like...a Tuesday?” he shouts back, then smiles and waves and starts to sign things as people cheer and yell for his attention.

 _Tuesday._ That was the last time she heard from Alex. It was on a Tuesday.

Sometimes, she just can't help herself.

"Hey, wasn't there a Vanko guy who worked on an arc reactor too?" she asks innocently holding out the photograph to him as he makes his way down the line.

Tony is hiding behind his sunglasses but she can sense the tension in his expression, even if he still smiles.

"Aren't you on the wrong side of the crowd to be asking that question?"

"Just like to hold my American heroes accountable," she tells him, crossing her arms as he looks her over more carefully, a big grin on her face.

"SHIELD sending them in even younger now?" he asks her with a tired sigh, and she realizes his angle and she's so offended, she shoves the picture back at him.

I'm not- What do you know about SHIELD?" she asks back, as he hands off the picture into another fan's eager hand.

"More than you, apparently," he says smugly, and backs away, then starts to make a beeline for the entrance.

"Energy should belong to the people!" she yells after him, as some of the fans standing around her give her sideways looks.

His driver gets between him and the press, telling them no more questions, and then they're surrounded by the fans, chanting.

She slips out back onto the street and heads toward her van.

Chants of "Iron Man" are still in the air from a block away.

  
###

  
She doesn't know if she'll ever hear from Alex again.

It seems silly to take a selfie in this getup, having failed her mission and all.

Surrounded by a crowd, a part of something, but still feeling alone inside of it.

Alex would get that.

Alex had been looking for information on Vanko, she remembers the name. The connection to the Starks.

She has the feeling that it wasn't just a Tuesday for Alex, and no one was going to call Alex a hero.

Still, she takes the picture anyway.

She types я выгляжу довольно into the phone and pushes send.


End file.
